OPE 
erly imthofe countries where the means of fubfiftence caa 
be had in abundance, and on reafonable terms, that popu- 
lation cavales will rapidity. In. political calculations the 
riches of a ftate are eftimated-by the number of its inhabitants. 
able to furnifh from 1 its own lands t 
Befides, w 
an immenfe a hel eae | that of this 
60, 
pease ee aprovenent: is precluded, and pe ae 
an increafe of rent on rational principles.’ 
advantage which uniformly refults from inclofing land. 
The farmer, no longer under the neceflity of mixing his 
herds or his flocks with thofe of others, is at liberty to pur- 
fue fuch meafures as he judges moft expedient ; and while 
he purchafes tups, bulls, and ftallions of the beft fort, ta 
improve his ftock, he alfo takes care, by {uperior cultivation, 
and a more judicious rotation of cropping than he was 
before at liberty to adopt, that they fhall not be ftinted in 
ee growth: by the want of provender. Such is the = 
unt ef the advantages that are likely to refult from 
pcual divifion of commons and the inclofure of open- 
fields, which the writer, from a careful perufal of the agri- 
pan reports of the different counties of England, and 
his own general knowledge of the fubjeét, is able . lay 
before a oer Experience havin ved, in ve 
inftances, that thefe, and feveral others of no inconfilerable 
place ottrine oever 
aa the Parliamentary Regifter for be t, will find that 
this was the cafe.’ 
oo &, i se lihe rail is that part of the flank 
whieh { is eesaad by the o 
Open Fire: See Finu, a ‘Ruvuneeenoue. 
Oven’ Fourtain. See ans 
: aw/fe. Whena fhip at her moorings has her 
cables fraight to her “i ioe crofling, fhe is faid 
aw /e 
Orzew Pod See Poun 
OPENACA, in Cas. a town of Ceylon; 38 miles 
S. Can ay. 
ith an ohen 
a Fein, See Purznotom 
Ona . Trenches, is the firft ene of ground by 
OPE 
the befiegers, in _ to carry on-their approaches towards 
aplace. See TRE 
BENING of Gates 0 Afirclegy, is wlien one planet fepa- 
rateé from another, ud pre — stg to a third, bearing 
rule in a ruled by the planet: with 
which it was before joined. 
Opvenine the Mouth, See oe 
PENING-Weirs, are a fort 
oveable weirs or pens 
for the waters of rivers that are fubjeet to floods: 
OP » a dramatic and lyric reprefentation, in which 
all the fine arts confpire to'form a {pe¢taele full’ of paffion, 
and to excite, by the afiftance of ape fenfations; in- 
tereft and illufion 
The conftituent parts of an opera are the poem 
mufic, and the decorations. ‘The mind is’ a addreffed by i 
poetry, the ear by the mufic, the eye by the painting ; 3 and 
the whole ought to harmonize, in yal to move'the heart, 
and convey to it at once the impreffion throug!» different 
organs. Of thefe three glee our fubje& does.not’ permit 
us to confider the firft and lait, but as the 
with the fecond; fo that we fhall immediately proceed to 
mufic, the fecond conftituent part. 
e art of combming agreeable founds may. be: regarded 
under two! different afpefts. Confidered as an int tution 
nature, mufic is confined to the pleafure which refults 
from melody, harmony, and rhythm; fuch is, in pai the 
mufic of the churcli; fuch are the aire for dancing,.and for 
common fongs. But as am effential part of the-lyric {cene, 
of which the principal obje& is imitation, mG becomes 
one of the fine arts, capable painting eve picture, 
sera every fentiment, comending with poetry, giving it 
ew force, embellifhing it with new charms, and triumphing 
over it by enriching it with new beauties and new alluremients. 
The founds of the /peahing voice, not being harmonicat ov 
fuftained, are fo evanefcent, and:move in fuch fmall: ‘intervals, 
as not to be appreciable, and confequently can never unite 
agreeably with the finging voice, ard imftruments that pro- 
duce the fame intervals; at leaft im modern languages, a 
remote from the mufical character: for we are unable 
underftand many paflages of the Greeks concerning oe 
manner of reciting, but by {uppofing their language fo ac- 
centuated, that the inflexions of {peech: ima fuftained decla- 
have no opera oe fo called among us. "But if the 
declaiming f{peech of the Greeks was not tuneful, what 
effe&ts could be produced by the Echeia, or vafes tuned‘ to 
mufical eciianee in the ng of the Greeks, as de 
{cribed by Vitruvius, lib. v 
Thus far Ronffeau, whofe ideas on the 
elegant a oo but we fear they 
ae at le ee Fran 
ow on the origin of mufical dramas, and 
pir oti adations they have been brought to the 
cme of fuch perfeétion as they have attained in 
Por Vienna, Drefden, 2 
fubject are always 
will never be fuk 
refpect to' POrHy, ur aipixing at ener 
at plea ” much variety of effea 
om epic poetry : fo long 
if we fuppofé erther “of them to have been originally fangs 
3k 2 
